Saturday, March 8, 2008

RV Salon in Montreal


I suppose every kayaker eventually wants to tavel beyond his or her home waters. There are several ways to do this. To date, I have traveled by car and camped near the put-in or along the route paddled and really enjoyed it. Still, the idea of having a small motor-home to travel with and carry all one's gear means that one can go farther and stay away longer, yet still enjoy many of the benefits of being 'at home'.

At the RV Show in Montreal yesterday I had a chance to actually get inside some of the vehicles I've seen only in magazines over the past few years. Above is the Safari Condo van. It's much like the VW vans which have been popular for many years. Slightly larger, these Safari vans come with all sorts of options including full solar power options while camped and an interesting kayak roof rack which lowers off the rear for easier loading/off-loading.


Another interesting option is the Go-Camp tear-drop trailor in the above picture. This tiny 'home' can even be pulled behind a motorcycle. There are various models available including one with a flat roof equiped with kayak racks and solar panels. While really just a solid walled tent on wheels, it does allow one some additional security and weather protection in the wilds as well as freeing up space in the car.

Will I be buying? Probably not. I still enjoy the idea of camping, keeping the carbon footprint low and besides, all the banks around here have already been robbed...

2 comments:

Simon Willis said...

Now that is very similar to the one we were looking at on Friday. It's going to be our only vehicle and since we use bikes most of the time, we reckon we can justify it. Not signed on the dotted line yet...
S

Richard Hayes said...

Hey, Michael,
Brother Corker is heading for Ohio in mid-April to pick up a Little Guy teardrop he found on the internet. Maybe you could convince him to buzz thru Quebec so you could have a gander at it!!!
All quiet here - been hitting a few pool sessions, and have quickly discovered that I need - and I mean NEED - some serious fitting out in the VK if I'm going to do much more skills development...